


first phase

by yamasou



Series: apartment (she)bangs [1]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 16:52:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13322418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yamasou/pseuds/yamasou
Summary: Yagyuu meets his roommate for the first time since he's moved to his apartment two weeks ago. Said roommate has raided Yagyuu's closet and sometimes even pretends to be him in campus.





	first phase

**Author's Note:**

> I hovered over the ratings and it gave all of them so I settled with Gen! If this is wrong then I'm sorry :'(
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> **Prompt:**
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> Yagyuu's roommate in college is a mystery: it's been two weeks since the school year started, and though it's obvious his roommate comes and goes by the mess he leaves behind in their dorm, Yagyuu is yet to see him.

Yagyuu gets up at exactly 7 AM when his cellphone's alarm goes off. As much as he wants to stay in bed a little longer, he's more than disciplined enough to tell himself that the day has to start now. And so he does.

Every morning, he finds find a candy wrappers, a few cans of soda, some fruit peels, and an unwashed dish on the dining table. It never ceases to amaze him how his roommate forgets to throw his trash when the trash can is just a few feet away from the table, under the sink. That's the only trace of his roommate that he sees, aside from the fact that there's two kinds of hair products and other bathroom items in the shared bathroom.

Come to think of it, it's been weeks since he moved into the apartment, but he's never really met the guy.

 _Niou-kun_. He says the same in his head, because that's all he knows about him. He was referred to this apartment by a common friend and it was the said friend who organised the whole rooming shebang. Perhaps he should have thought to meet this "Niou-kun" before moving in, but now that he's actually cleaning up the other man's trash, he really can't do anything but regret his rushed decision.

 _He's like a ghost. He comes at night and goes in the morning._ Probably to a 7 AM class. At this point, Yagyuu feels hints of agitation from not knowing who it is whom he's living with.

Still, he continues to go about his preparations for the day. Niou's trash is dealt with and the dish is put in the washer. For today, he settles for toast and jam for breakfast. He takes a shower, puts on a comfortable button down shirt, a sweater, slacks, shoes, and leaves for his first class.

He gets home at around 3 PM after speaking with a classmate who comforted him for being rejected by one of the Chemistry professors when he asked her to date him under one of the cherry blossom trees in campus. It's perplexing, disturbing, and embarrassing, but he merely dismisses it as being mistaken for somebody else. After all, he isn't even taking any science classes this semester.

Still, it's strange.

But definitely not as strange as when he walks out from the kitchen with a can of iced coffee and sees himself just entering the apartment.

He freezes, both feet planted on the ground as he stares at what seems like an apparition of him. A doppelganger, perhaps.

"Yagyuu" doesn't seem as frightened, but with his jaw a little slack and the smirk on his face turning into an awkward smile, it seems that he doesn't expect this to happen.

"I forgot my paper," "Yagyuu" says with a chortle and continues walking down the hallway into the other room.

Niou's room.

Yagyuu's reaction is a bit delayed, but he sprints to the room next to his. That guy sounds exactly like him! That guy is wearing the white shirt and black jacket! That guy is even wearing his hair the same way as his and even wears glasses—

"Niou-kun!" But that's all Yagyuu says. It's not like he has anything rehearsed to say when he finally meets his roommate. Also, he never really thought that his roommate would dress up as him! It doesn't even register to him that that black suit jacket is one of his favourites… it'll eventually come to him, though.

By the time Yagyuu bursts into his roommate's room, a purple wig has been placed on the desk in the room.Niou has removed the glasses he's been wearing, too.  
Niou does not take in Yagyuu's features, but Yagyuu _does_ Niou's and it takes him a few good seconds to open his mouth again. Silver unkempt hair falls across Niou's face almost like some kind of furry cat. HIs eyes meet Yagyuu's—clear as the bluest sky—and yet, there's no trace of the window leading to the soul. It's almost as unidentifiable as his own when they're behind his lenses.

Seeing as Yagyuu can't seem to figure out what to say, Niou breaks the ice.

"You caught me." The words leave Niou's mouth casually, as if he isn't in any trouble at all. His real voice is far from the voice he used earlier when he copied Yagyuu, too. It's a lot more airy and slightly higher in pitch with a hint of playfulness. And when he places his hands up in surrender, Yagyuu sighs and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"May I ask what it is you're doing? Why are you wearing my clothes?" Yagyuu asks. At least he isn't disgruntled anymore, just confrontational.

Now, _finally_ , Yagyuu thinks to himself that this was not how he expected to meet his roommate. _Now_ , Yagyuu's forgotten about the embarrassing rumour that Niou seemed to have shared to his classmate.

Niou shrugs, still wearing a casual smirk on his face. It doesn't seem like Yagyuu is threatening him—not that he has any reason to be threatened in the first place—so this situation should be easy to defuse.

"Pretending to be you, puri."

A strained sound comes out of Yagyuu's throat. It's the only sign of protest he gives because soon after, he lets out a sigh and folds his arms across his chest. It doesn't seem like his mysterious roommate will give him a proper answer now, which is why he decides to just accept this (for now) and deal with it like an adult.

"Then, if you would, please stop doing it." A beat, and then he adds: "A classmate spoke to me earlier, consoling me for something I didn't even do. That was your doing, wasn't it? You tricked him."

It's not particularly bothersome, no, but it's bound to get confusing if this keeps happening.

... Yagyuu inwardly hopes that this is the first time that it's happened.

Niou laughs. That was a really good rumour that he's begun to spread, but he'll have to clear the air tomorrow once he sees that guy again. "It's okay. You can raid my closet and wear a wig, too."

"R- Raid?" If Niou could see Yagyuu's eyes behind those glasses, he would see them caught off-guard. The shock dissipates quickly, though, when Yagyuu dryly states a conclusion he's come to. "You've raised my closet."

Niou nods, not finding anything wrong with what was just proclaimed. If anything, this seems like such a trivial thing to him. Another trivial thing is him not finding his first meeting to be strange, too. It's almost as if he's known Yagyuu for quite some time now.

Yagyuu does not feel the same.

"I don't appreciate strangers going through my things. Did you even have any intention of introducing yourself to me since I moved in?"

"Not really, no," Niou says with a shrug. He does, at least, take off the jacket and begins to unbutton his (Yagyuu's) shirt. Now that the jig is up, he may as well go back to school as himself. "But now that we've met, then it's okay, right?

Yagyuu looks away, finding himself flustered at the scene of a man undressing in front of him. Usually, these things shouldn't even bother him, but there's something puzzling (to the point of interesting) about Niou that he can't seem to keep his eyes away. It might be the other's natural charisma or the way his eyes look like he can hold the world in the palm of his hand. It might be because "Niou-kun" is such a mystery that Yagyuu can't even begin to parse what little information he has of him to figure him out.

Once Niou is changed into a loose and casual tee, he stuffs a folder into his sling bag.

Yagyuu's eyes are still elsewhere, Niou guesses, but it looks like his actions have bothered his roommate in a way that's more amusing than he could ever have imagined.

Of course Niou took his (Yagyuu's) shirt off intentionally in front of the other guy. Of course he did it while facing his gentlemanly roommate to show off how well he's built his body. Of course.

He had been watching Yagyuu for quite some time now, after all. When their common friend told Niou that he found someone who was looking for an apartment, he got all the necessary details and then some. Once Yagyuu had moved in and once classes had started, Niou would follow him every so often in the hallways or on the way back to the apartment. He isn't doing this because he has something against Yagyuu; in fact, it's the opposite. Just from the photo their friend sent, Niou thinks he's interesting. Cool, too. And if he wants to make a lasting impression on this guy, he'd have to introduce himself in a more… creative way.

As he's about to take a step outside his room, he claps a hand over Yagyuu's shoulder. "I'll be going now, so I'll see you later."

LIke the ghost that Yagyuu's perceived him to be, Niou disappears soon after, leaving what Yagyuu thinks might have been a wink aimed at his direction.

Niou also left his room a mess. Yagyuu's shirt and jacket are on top of a pile of other clothes; there are some books and magazines all over the floor. The candy wrappers and potato chip bags are just icing on the cake.

Minutes later, Yagyuu finds himself setting some order in his roommate's room just because it's _such a mess_. Even when he's going through the other man's belongings, he can't seem to figure out anything about him. He does wait for Niou to come back after his classes (not that he knows what time it will end) with the intention of actually getting to know his roommate. There's a lot to be discussed, and he wants to bring up the fact that he seems to clean up after Niou's mess every single morning.

This seriously isn't the most ideal of situations but it seems like the first phase of an interesting chapter in life.

**Author's Note:**

> INSPIRED BY ONE OF THE SITUATION CARDS FROM TENIRABI literally this was what egged me to write this
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> i also kind of got carried away writing this PLEASE EXCUSE ME i haven't written for tenipuri... in a while... (ie. 10 years)


End file.
